Illinois

Worker freedom yields healthier economies and more jobs

By Paul Kersey
08/30/2013
Does giving workers the freedom to choose whether to join a union make a difference? A new report from the Mackinac Center – our sister think tank in Michigan – says yes, it does. Ball State University professor Michael Hicks teamed up with Mackinac’s Fiscal Policy Director Mike LaFaive to produce a sophisticated analysis of employment, income...

Illinois’ 25 top-paid union bosses

By Paul Kersey
08/29/2013
With college football starting up on this Labor Day weekend, it’s the perfect time for a Top 25 list of the most highest-compensated government union officials in Illinois. Unlike the football polls, there’s no argument over who’s No. 1; it’s all pretty cut-and-dried. The big question is: What exactly have they done to earn these...

July unemployment: joblessness up across the state

By John Klingner
08/29/2013
Almost all metropolitan areas across Illinois saw an increase in their unemployment rate in July. According to the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, eight of Illinois’ 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, saw their unemployment rates increase. The only region to experience a drop was Chicago, while the...

Oops — another ‘error’ in Illinois’ pension mess

08/29/2013
If Illinoisans needed any more proof that the state’s defined benefit pension systems are unmanageable and dysfunctional, they got it on Aug. 26. Dick Ingram, head of the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, informed Illinois’ pension conference committee that TRS’s actuaries made a mistake in calculating the expected savings of House Speaker Mike Madigan’s proposed pension...

Illinois should shun ObamaCare and pursue Rhode Island-style Medicaid reforms

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/29/2013
In a recent interview to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, President Barack Obama managed to plug the ObamaCare program by encouraging people to sign up for coverage on a government website. Few can disagree with the goal of affordable health care coverage, especially for the medically needy and poor. While...

TAGS: Medicaid

Thousands more Illinoisans discovered ineligible for Medicaid

By Jonathan Ingram
08/29/2013
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers...

TAGS: Medicaid

Craft brewers face regulatory challenges in Illinois

By Bryant Jackson-Green, Justin Hegy
08/28/2013
Much to the delight of many Chicago beer enthusiasts, the city’s craft beer market has grown in recent years. New Chicago breweries such as Revolution Brewing, Half Acre Beer Company and PipeWorks Brewing are making inroads on traditional brewers. The craft beer revolution is taking root throughout the rest of the state as well. Rolling Meadows Brewery in Springfield and Destihl Brewery in Bloomington...

Interactive dashboard: State income tax rates

By Benjamin VanMetre
08/28/2013
Illinois’ competitive flat rate income tax is protected in the state’s constitution. But there is a growing movement to increase income taxes in Illinois by swapping out the state’s flat-rate income tax for a progressive tax. The progressive tax plan is being sold as a tax on the rich. But the data tell a different...

ObamaCare: Companies changing health plans for 2014

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/27/2013
President Barack Obama promised Americans that under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, “If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan.” The unfortunate reality is that only a lucky few can keep their health plan. As the new law is implemented, many employees will be left with less...
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Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Leaders of these organizations on the South and West sides connect residents to jobs and engage youth to build safer neighborhoods.

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016